


Keep Moving

by lammermoorian



Series: Project Freelancer [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multi, Possible violence, Project Freelancer AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 11:50:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2347472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lammermoorian/pseuds/lammermoorian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean, rogue agents of the defunct military organization, Project Freelancer, which paired top soldiers with aggressive smart AI programs, are now AWOL, running from UNSC and Insurrectionists alike, and dealing with the fallout of the Director's psychotic experiments. /// In this installment, Sam gets hurt. </p><p>(Part 1/? of a larger story.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Moving

**Author's Note:**

> The first thing I ever wrote for pfl au. Stories are not written in order. Warnings for inexplicit violence and near death. May be edited heavily in the future.

The only thing that Dean will ever thank Project Freelancer for is the fact that Castiel, thank fucking god, is discreet. He doesn’t shove himself to the front like some of the more aggressive AI, or make snide comments; he makes himself useful in battle, runs statistics until the cows come home, and then he shuts the hell up until Dean says he needs him.

"Cas," Dean grunts, voice cracking. "I need you." The quiet hum and shiver of the manifesting AI makes him flinch, so Castiel dims himself slightly, without asking.

"Hello, Dean."

Dean is already unhooking his healing unit, one hand on the back of Sam’s head, his brother’s chest plate slotted up neatly beneath his own. Sam’s breath is shallow against his neck, pulse jumpy and weak. “Sam’s hurt,” he grunts, hoping that Cas can dispense with the goddamn pleasantries and get to work. “I’m fixing him up with my healing unit. You’re going to jump into his helmet and power up.”

"Dean, I don’t… believe this is a wise decision."

"Did I fucking stutter or something," Sam whines into Dean’s shoulder, eyes flicking back and forth beneath closed lids. Jesus Christ. It’s a lot of blood. Sam’s big and strong but there is a metric fuckton of blood dripping down and seeping into the cracks in Dean’s armor - it’ll be a bitch to clean out but dean will gladly scrub with his fucking toothbrush if it means Sam is there to laugh at him, oh god. "Just get in him already." The healing unit is locked in, the familiar whir and hum of machinery almost enough to put his mind at ease but there’s not nearly enough power, not for this kind of injury. He needs the AI boost. "Cas! What the fuck are you waiting for!"

"Dean, Sam’s mind is dangerously unstable. You of all people knew the risks in removing both Lucifer and Michael, and my presence may pose a serious - “

Fucking useless AI, fucking, “Cas! Program; instruction, override risk function and acknowledge last command!” He hates it, Cas hates it, he hates forcing his program to perform, but this is important, this is Sammy.

Castiel winks out of existence. “Acknowledged. Beginning transfer.” And there is a sudden silence in Dean’s head, a gaping hole where his AI used to be. “Activating healing unit.” It’s such a shock to hear Cas’ voice outside of his own head, hovering behind Sam’s shoulder. He doesn’t even sound like cas - too robotic, too sincere, not enough badly-veiled snark. He’s reverted back to his factory programming, lost all of their hard work and easy banter, but fuck it, they can all have a laugh and a beer later when Sam isn’t bleeding out in his arms.

"Cas?" he asks after a silence that is too long to be good, "Castiel?"

"I’m here, Dean." He sounds stilted, his voice not quite making it all the way out of Sam’s speakers. Looks like they all need an armor overhaul. "I’m just. Focusing."

"How is he?"

"He is. Stable. Physically. For now." He doesn’t want to ask, but… Castiel is being a bit too specific for his own sanity.

"How is the, uh, brainpan? Anything… weird?"

"It’s…" Come on. Dean’s a big boy, he can take it. He’ll take whatever he gets, if Sam is a vegetable or a raving lunatic or a murdering psycho or his brother with a few screws knocked loose, just as long as he’s breathing. As long as he keeps breathing. They can fix whatever it is, as long as he keeps breathing. "Your brother’s mind is… I don’t know how to describe it."

"Fucking try, ok? For me."

The hologram blinked. If that helmet had a face, Dean could have sworn that it just side-eyed him. Thank Christ. Can’t keep a good AI down. “It’s… Michael and Lucifer were not kind to him. There is much damage here, much more than I can see, or even begin to diagnose.” Dean closes his eyes, dropping a kiss to Sam’s sweaty, dirty hair. Fuck Cas, fuck this program, fuck the director and his leaderboards and his psycho mad scientist experiments, fuck -

"Jesus, Cas. is there - "

"But he’s whole. Strong, even. His empathy levels are higher than ever, his propensity for compassion off the charts. He is holding himself together… it’s amazing."

Castiel doesn’t talk like this, with this unabashed admiration. If it were possible for an AI to have a stick up its ass, Castiel’s would be coming out his throat. He’s a computer program, he doesn’t know jack shit about humanity. He doesn’t understand jokes, he can’t see the appeal in a pair of red lips and a tight ass, and he wouldn’t know kindness without Sam having to teach it to him first, complete with a damn diagram with those stupid smiley faces. 

But it seems like Sam got to him after all. Dean can hear wonder in the tinny, manufactured voice that lives inside of his head, wonder and admiration and… something deeper that he doesn’t really want to think about. “Your brother is asleep now. I predict he will make a full recovery from his physical injury.”

Dean can’t trust himself not to cry. “Thank you. Thank you, Cas. I’m sorry about the override, I’ll never make you do it again - “

"It’s alright, Dean. If it’s for your brother… it’s alright."


End file.
